The Short Story

Summaries as I am tired and need to sleep/get up at 7 am tomorrow:

Sun: 4:15
Mon: 3
Tue: 6:30
Wed: 5:15
Totals so far: 19 HOURS

on the bike in four days. Hot Dog! The weather's been pretty good, I'm hungry (again) and for some reason, I've apparently had quite a bit of B-12 if you know what I mean.

hopefully, I'll get in another three tomorrow and then 6 on friday again. Picture to follow as well as long long write-ups for long long days.

Ciao

Saturday and Sunday in Texas

Saturday woke up early and goofed around until my final for Art after 1945, it went well though I should have known more about Michel Foucault and his relationship to post-structuralism/post-modernism/art criticism. Afterwards, I just packed and hung out with my roommate Brad and my friend Emma until she drove me to the airport. Watched the news for the first time in forever and it was pretty absurd, the headlines they came up with anyway...
Arrived in TX at 945 pm to a ghosttown of an airport. It was a balmy 40 degrees, but better than 12!

After getting settled I dropped off to sleep and woke up to ride at 8. Didn't end up riding until 1 in the town of Taylor with a few friends of my Aunt Pam's (who I am staying with). We set out for 77 miles but we all couldnt hold the pace to make it in before daylight. Ira, Ron, and Dave (the guy who did the majority of the pulling) were all pretty raw, especially since Ron was the youngest at 40 yrs old. Got 4:15 minutes in the saddle at 65 miles, and there was quite a bit of wind. I'll have pictures up when I get back to MN at the end of the week. Today it's a recovery day as I went MUCH harder than I should have yesterday. Oh well.

Ciao

Quick, Much-needed Update

Ahh so January has come and gone quite rapidly. I'm three weeks in on mostly bike specific training, doing endurance work on the trainer for 2-3 hours and intensity on the xc skiis for 1-2 hours everyother day. Still planning on using the college season as a means of getting into real shape as my school schedule will allow me to ride at least 3 hours a day everyday so I can build endurance. Today's my Art after 1945 History final, shouldn't go too badly, as I'm feeling "so postmodern"

need to update the links for
Tony Phillip's blog
Tim Kamke's blog
Mach Schnell webiste...

After the final I'm off to a somewhat dreary Austin, TX to stay with my Aunt Pam and put in roughly 25-30 hours on the bike. Despite not having any point of reference and feeling somewhat guilty and the low level of training I have put it, I still feel as if I am in better shape than I was last year; my peak should come in the super week window. Just endurance, and lactate work really; I'm not doing any sprint work except spinning out in a low gear about one time during each work out.

Still have to pack though...better get on it

Ciao,

Brandon

Thumbs-up

Last season's skinsuit, and my first ever, looking a little loved, a little tired.

Yes, opitimism. And plenty of it.

New Bike Yesterday

I had to hassle Emma to take these "rare" training photos at the end of a massive 1hr20minute training session in my swanky flat, Hilleboe. At any rate yeup, that's the new bike, built up enough to ride on a trainer (still need to cut the cables and attack the front brake).

Specs:
well hell it's full DA throughout except for the brakes which are Zero-G's (thank you e-bay). Look full carbon fork, Chris King headset, Specialized Toupe saddle, Deda Newton bar and stem. Bontrager Race wheels (just kidding, these are for training).

Tonight is looking like the first all-nighter of my interim course, Art after 1945, need to write a letter to an author but it's only 750 words so no problem there. Boy, am I glad I got in my training tonight, lest I be called a "p*ssy" or a "r*tard."

Looking a wee bit tepid
Apparently, more photos aren't working, I'll those up tomorrow. Oh well.

New Bike Tomorrow

AFTER SOME CROSS-TRAINING due to inclement weather in the past few days I finally cabled my bars and wrapped them. "They look mean (in the good way) - Emma Hornick. All that's left to do is to pick up my frame and fork from Mike's Bikes of Northfield (they're drilling out the cablestops for the NOKON cabling, cutting the fork, installing the crown race, and putting on the chain) and I'll have my brand new ride for 2007 after several months of ebay-ing (oops). Managed to do 2hrs20 on the trainer yesterday total and have been waking up with 20 minutes on the trainer before going to breakfast. It's not so bad in twenty minute chunks with a break inbetween to vary the elevation of the front wheel and to stretch/eat/whatnot for a minute or two. Tomorrwo Noaa predicts it to be 38 but pretty windy; I'll plan on 3+ hours immediately after class, leaving at 1, maybe gravel, we'll see.

Night